THE MARKETING 100: DIESEL: DIANA LOGUZZO

The italian jeans marketer Diesel has traditional business goals: increase worldwide sales from $350 million now to $600 million by 2000. But its advertising is anything but traditional.

"The advertising is very provocative, very arresting," says Diana Loguzzo, 29, marketing manager of Diesel USA.

Diesel has become a notable contender in the crowded jeans category in the U.S. by marketing an attitude to 18-to-35 year olds. U.S. sales in 1996 hit $25 million, more than double the $12 million in 1995.

That attitude is conveyed via breakthrough advertising, along with a new company magazine that will be published three times yearly, visible event marketing and Diesel retail outlets.

In one TV spot, called "Little Rock, 1873," a dashing young man dons Diesel jeans and leaves his wife and baby to challenge a loathsome, vulgar man in a gunfight, which ends oddly with the Diesel hero taking a fatal bullet.

And at the retail level, Ms. Loguzzo says the marketer has stepped up expansion plans. By year-end, the company will have seven retail outlets in the U.S.,